1 Peter 1:3–4

0:00 let's start with a prayer please heavenly father god please guide me by your holy spirit tonight give me the words that you would have me speak and guide our hearts and minds as we hear from your word tonight that we would draw closer to you in jesus name amen okay we've been talking about interstate 65 so let's have a show of hands this is about navigational apps. If you prefer Google Maps, raise your hand. All right. How about if you prefer Waze? Raise your hand. Oh, is there another one out there? Those are the only two I know about, but I'm Apple. How about that one? Oh, I think that's the winner. Okay.

0:41 Well, these navigational apps use the GPS for directional indications, and GPS stands for Global Positioning Service, which is a network of about two dozen satellites that orbit the Earth constantly. They're owned and operated by the U.S. government, and they give coordinates that these apps pick up on to give us directions. And I think all of these apps are going to be in heavy use for the next couple of months, especially this coming week with all this disruption on Interstate 65.

1:22 But tonight, our passage leads us to look at a different kind of GPS. Tonight's passage is 1 Peter 1, verse 3. This is found on page 1014 of your Pew Bibles, if you're using those, 1014. Please follow along as I read verses 3 and 4 from 1 Peter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

2:05 The main idea of this passage is God's incomparable blessings and our appropriate response. God's incomparable blessings and our appropriate response. There are two points in my message tonight. Point one, God alone designs and delivers eternal blessings. God alone designs and delivers eternal blessings. And point two, having contributed nothing, how are Christians to respond? Having contributed nothing, how are Christians to respond?

2:39 So point one, God alone designs and delivers eternal blessings. Peter wrote this letter to Christians. He called them God's elect, who were among the churches in Asia Minor, most of which had been founded by Paul. This was during the reign of Emperor Nero and his vicious persecution of Christians in Rome. And the recipients of Peter's letter were also suffering hardships. This letter provided encouragement and hope to struggling Christians.

3:11 Well, Peter makes it clear right away that God alone is the one who takes action. And Peter tells us why he does it. It is according to God's great mercy. Now, someone who is in need of mercy is in a position of no strength. they have no leverage on the other party no way to influence their actions and that's how we are before almighty god we're helpless and someone who is acting in mercy is not compelled to be kind they're acting out of their own generosity and grace and amazingly that's how god chooses to treat his people so let's ask ourselves a few questions do christians deserve blessings from God? And the answer is no. Roman 3 says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our sins are deeply offensive to God, and we heard a lot about that this morning.

4:10 Okay, have Christians earned blessings from God? Once again, no. In John 6, Jesus tells us the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. There is nothing that we can do to earn God's blessings well can Christians cause God to give us his blessings once again the answer is no in Ephesians 2 the Bible says for it is by grace that you've been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves it's the gift of God not by work so that no one can boast we can't even choose to believe it's God's free gift by his grace we contribute nothing to this God does all of it because of his great mercy.

4:57 Amen. Peter also tells us that according to his great mercy, God has caused us to be born again. Jesus taught Nicodemus about this. He said, in order to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again, born of the Spirit. Now this rebirth of the Spirit is God's fulfillment of his prophecy in Ezekiel 11, which Greg preached about this morning. Again, that prophecy says, I will give them one heart and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.

5:35 And they shall be my people and I will be their God. The Holy Spirit transforms our heart. He removes a heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. This makes it possible for us to understand the gospel, to receive God's free gift of faith in Jesus and be saved, to obey his rules and statutes, and to live in a personal relationship with God where we are his people and he is our God. Peter further explains that God's caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

6:14 Jesus was truly dead on the cross. Roman soldiers were experts at killing, and they faced a death penalty themselves if they didn't complete the job of executing the condemned. One of the soldiers thrust his spear into Jesus' side, ensuring that he was dead. On the cross, Jesus fulfilled God's perfect plan of salvation by paying the full penalty for the sins of everyone who believes in him. Isaiah 53 talks about this, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

6:48 He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. And 2 Corinthians 5 says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. On the third day, God resurrected Jesus from the dead. He validated Jesus' fulfillment of his plan of salvation, and he confirmed that Jesus has indeed conquered sin and death. Well, Peter proclaims in this passage that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, God caused us to be born again to a living hope.

7:29 Verse 4 tells us that God has prepared for us an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. The Bible gives us some wonderful glimpses into this imperishable inheritance that is kept in heaven for Christians. In Luke 23, Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross next to him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. We will be in the presence of the Lord in a place of boundless joy.

8:08 In John 11, Jesus told Lazarus' sister Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Not only will we be in the presence of the Lord, filled with joy, we will never die. This is going to go on forever. Revelation 21 says, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.

8:42 They will be his people, and God himself will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Just imagine, for Christians, God is holding for us in heaven eternal life in his presence with no more death or mourning or pain or crying. And that's not all. In addition to these incredible eternal blessings, our living hope includes blessings for our life here on earth.

9:19 In 1 John 1, the Bible says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. On the cross, Jesus paid the full penalty for the sins of every Christian. And even though we still sin in this life, when we confess our sins to God, He promises to forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. In addition to forgiving us, God promises to remove the guilt of our sins. In Psalm 32, David proclaims, I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

9:56 Because of our sin nature, even after we're saved through faith in Jesus, we continue to sin. Thankfully, our living hope includes forgiveness of our sins when we confess them to God and purification, removal of our guilt. Praise and thanks to God and Jesus. In his perfect creative capacity, God designed his plan of salvation and these eternal blessings for Christians. In his perfect infinite wisdom, God chose to put his plan into action.

10:29 And in his perfect, absolute power, God accomplished exactly what he intended. God does it all. Not only that, we couldn't even dream up these blessings. And God, in his mercy, has prepared them for us, our living hope. Well, point two, having contributed nothing to this, how do we respond? When we think about these incredible blessings, these eternal blessings in heaven, Forgiveness of our sins, removal of our guilt.

11:03 What can we do but fall to our knees and call out ingratitude? Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. There's nothing in this life, no human creation, no riches, no pleasure, that can even compare to these treasures. God, we are filled with gratitude to you. Peter begins our passage with the words, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

11:38 Other translations use the words, Praise be to the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Not only are we grateful to God for these blessings, we praise him with all our heart. God has designed blessings for us that we could never think up. He has delivered blessings to us that we could never create. By his grace, he has given us as a free gift, blessings we could never pray for, pay for. We praise you, God. We praise you, Jesus.

12:09 We praise you, Holy Spirit. As prophesied in Ezekiel 11 and fulfilled in 1 Peter 1, God has put a new spirit into our heart, the promised Holy Spirit. God has transformed our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh by the work of the Holy Spirit. He has enabled us to walk in his statutes, obey him, and obey his rules. He has given us a personal relationship with himself through faith in Jesus where we are his people, and he is our God.

12:41 Submission to God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our daily lives is our proper response for these wonderful blessings. In gratitude and praise, we willingly submit to them to follow their ways. Father God, we submit to you. Lord Jesus, we submit to you. Holy Spirit, we submit to you. Gratitude, praise, submission, GPS. For Christians, those of us who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that's our navigation system.

13:18 We have these incomparable blessings from God according to his great mercy for our eternal life in paradise with him and for our life while we're still here. We navigate this life in gratitude, praise, and submission to God. But if you're here tonight and you do not believe in Jesus, please know these things. First, we're so glad that you're here, and we hope that you'll come back next Sunday and again and again. Second, every Christian in this room was once where you were, where you are now.

13:55 Not believing in Jesus and not having the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All of us who are Christians were brought to faith in Jesus by the work of the Lord. I'm in my 70s. I was 40 when God gave me that blessing. But this is the third point. There is no better day than today to put your faith and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Here's a question for you. What is your navigation system, your GPS? If you don't believe in Jesus, you don't have these eternal spiritual blessings that we're talking about tonight.

14:33 All you have is man-imagined, man-designed, and man-created things, like the global positioning system. That GPS is really good at helping you plan a route from point A to point B on this earth. But it won't give you spiritual guidance. It won't lead you to eternal blessings. And it won't show you the way to heaven. But we know the way. Jesus said in John 14, I am the way and the truth and the life.

15:06 No one comes to the Father except through me. If you don't know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, come to him. Come to the Father, Almighty God. Trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Share in the living hope of the inheritance that is kept in heaven for all Christians. Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for these blessings that you hold for us in heaven. For the blessings that you give us through Jesus for our life on this earth.

15:40 For those of us who know Jesus as Savior, please help us to live in gratitude and praise and submission to you every day. And for those among us who don't know Jesus as Savior, God, please draw them to Jesus. Please enable them to come to Jesus and please give them saving faith in Jesus as your free gift by your grace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.